


Don't Call It a Dream (Call It a Nightmare)

by BrooklynSolas



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: And I mean if you want your emotional state spat on this is for you, Angst, Dark Josie Saltzman, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I actually have no idea which ship is going to become canon, Lizzie Saltzman Needs a Hug, Pain, Penelope Park & Lizzie Saltzman Friendship, Sad, So it'll be a surprise for all of us, Tags will change throughout each update :), shit ton of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28261731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrooklynSolas/pseuds/BrooklynSolas
Summary: Penelope Park comes back to Salvatore High after a luxurious time in Belgium and not even a day into the school year, Penelope has to deal with Dark Josie and one of her games.Will Penelope be able to get out or lose her mind trying?
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson & Penelope Park, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Penelope Park, Milton "MG" Greasley/Lizzie Saltzman, Penelope Park & Josie Saltzman, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 24
Kudos: 104





	1. The Return of Penelope Park.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope strikes back after a year in Belgium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I just want want to tell those who are going to read this that with the dark Josie storyline I skipped that so Dark Penelope happens in their final year and some things that were said with both Josie and Penelope ended differently so I'm sorry that it will be confusing for the first chapter and so :) 
> 
> Also another warning I'm planning to make this story angsty as much as possible, which will have warnings each chapter if it's a lil too angsty for some people.  
> I'm not here to give anyone a happy ever after unless they fight for it let alone fluff that doesn't have any damaging effects.

Walking through Salvatore Boarding school after spending a little bit over a year sipping on margaritas in Belgium was not something Penelope Park was imagining on how she would be finishing her final year of school. Although her mother had threatened her a mouthful of times due to her own foolishness and letting Belgium boy hotties outstay their stay in her bedroom, each time without failure her mother catching her, and each time Penelope could’ve cared less. She didn’t expect her to actually go on her word and send her ass straight back to her old high school, but they were both Parks and Penelope didn’t get her spitefulness from just anyone. 

Penelope’s clothing style had only gotten more revealing through the year and she wouldn’t stop the school policy from doing what she pleased, she even decided to grow her hair out once again and the raven-haired girl knew she looked good strutting down the old hallways. Alaric Saltzman welcomed the girl back happily back to the school and it just proves how oblivious people think that she’s not here to wreak havoc. She’s a witch with a shit ton of money, it’s not like flunking school will damage anything important.  


Walking through the hallways, she could hear the whispers and the stares from the students, but Penelope’s focus was on finding MG. The boy was most likely in his dorm room playing with the cat he has somehow hidden for the past few years, that you have happily named ‘Catraband’ although the Vampire was not happy about the newfound nickname for his fuzzball of a cat. Would the cat even remember her? Of course, he would, she did give him the best ear scratches ever. 

Not even with a second thought Penelope opens the dorm room door with a simple unlocking spell but no spell could’ve prepared for what she sees next. Which would be Elizabeth goddamn Saltzman laying in MG’s bed touching her Catraband, whilst the shower is on in the other room.  
So, it seems that MG finally got a grip and finally got the Saltzman twin which she nearly snickers to but settles for her ominous smirk, Lizzy’s face after registering who was standing at the front door, could’ve been museum-quality, oh if only Penelope had a camera just for this moment. 

“When did Satan crawl back from the pits of hell?” 

“When did the psycho twin somehow get with the sweetest guy in school?” Penelope asks not being able to bite her tongue, 

Lizzy sneers at the shorter girl from the bed, the cat jolting for Penelope his tail happily waving side to side. Penelope definitely could imagine herself as that one sexy villain that sits on a chair petting a cat, she picks catraband up and begins to coddle him like a baby and he doesn’t seem so against it as the cat happily purrs along.  


Okay maybe the only thing she’s missed from the school was the cat and she’ll find a way to get him into your dorm room eventually, the other thing you haven’t missed was Lizzie. The more Penelope stood there coddling the cat the more she noticed the unusual amount of clothes the blonde wasn’t wearing, and it takes a second to piece the two things together before grimacing that she walked in on the aftermath of something she never wanted to think about let alone nearly walk into.

“Well, whenever both of you decide to stop defiling each other in front of Mr Catraband, tell MG the cat stays in my room from now on,” Penelope says before closing the door behind her and making a dash to her room cat in hand. 

It’s not like Penelope could be arrested for catnapping she was just saving the poor cat from the god awful trauma. She would most definitely have to find a therapist for the cat, maybe she needed some after the stress she was experiencing trying to not get caught basically in broad daylight, but Penelope makes it and happily plops the cat on her unmade bed.  


Penelope looks around the room she hasn’t touched in a year, the room was covered in dust and the only things she had was the boxes she was forced to bring, a desk and her bed which she personally asked to be brought back. She would need to start unpacking sooner or later so she opens the boxes and starts sifting through them not without the cuddle breaks throughout, the cat seemed to be unphased from the catnapping which was good on her end.  
It takes exactly two hours and forty-six minutes for someone to interrupt her unpacking, thinking it was MG, Penelope quietly pulls a vanishing spell on the cat before opening the door to face the boy she hasn’t seen in a year. The raven-haired girl was so, so wrong. She opened the door to a water spell directly hitting her clothes and cackling from the corner of the hallway out of her sight, she was mad, to say the least but decided to just close the door and change clothes before going back to whatever she was doing. 

School officially didn’t start for another two weeks and for most of the first week was victim to a scary amount of torment from someone, basically making her isolate in her room until the night where she would get her food for both her and the cat. MG didn’t even show up to say hi which kind of stung Penelope, she literally stole his cat, and he doesn’t even have the balls to come and say he wanted his cat back.  
It was whatever, it just let Penelope spend most of her time in her Pyjamas binge-watching a television series she hadn’t gotten around to, at least she was the one doing the tormenting before she left but she never went that far basically to consistently hex someone every day. It was probably Lizzie or someone due to the fact that she left on horrible terms with her twin sister, Josie. Allowing the taller girl to believe that Penelope was indeed a self-centred bitch that only cared for herself and was only nosey to find out about the merging.  
She wasn’t allowed to care about that so she told Josie she didn’t, but it broke her every night knowing what will happen to the girl she’s been in love with for literal years, but she was Penelope Park, and she would be damned to show that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It only gets downhill from here :) Remember to @ me on Twitter if you have any advice, ideas, opinions or overall want to chat.


	2. Josie liked it when she went low.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope runs into Josie and doesn't know what to think, besides that Josie pulls off the sexy villain with a cat way better than Penelope ever could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be uploading three chapters tonight to reeeel in more people to read, please don't leave I swear it gets better :)

It wouldn’t take the raven-haired girl until a night before school to officially start to coincidentally walk in on Josie in the kitchen with a boy she couldn’t remember the name of, originally, she was going to sit it out until they leave but then she recognised the familiar giggle of a certain twin which shamefully set a fire somewhere in her chest to coincidentally start a fire with the help of the boys shirt.   
It’s been a year Penelope doesn’t have the right to get jealous, and it doesn’t justify her small antics, it’s not like Josie didn’t set her hair on fire like two years ago but forgot how good she could rock a bob. Also, who the hell decides hooking up in the school kitchen is a smart idea, how does Josie have the audacity to do something so stupid. Whatever, she shouldn’t overthink what was happening, but Penelope definitely laughed on her way out of the kitchen listening to the panicked yelling. She doesn’t think she would get caught with her small harmless spell and even Josie would know best not to tell her father about the incident.

Walking back to the dormitories was one way and the old wooden floorboards alerted if anyone was near, so Penelope was shocked to see that her door was slightly ajar quietly cussing if the cat had made a runner or if MG was low enough to steal back his cat when she was out. Both thoughts made Penelope’s skin crawl with annoyance.

“Catraband I swear to god if you’re not in here,” Penelope shout whispers looking around the room to try to find the cat, 

She was not expecting to see, Josie Saltzman sitting on the end of her bed, legs crossed stroking the cat. Penelope quiet literally was at a loss of words and her mouth went dry, who the fuck did she set fire to at the kitchen. Why was Josie Saltzman willingly in her bedroom. 

Josie pouts, “don’t threaten the poor kitty, Penelope,” 

Something was wrong about this situation besides Penelope somehow setting someone else on fire, something about Josie was wrong, her eyes were a lot darker and her skin was so much paler. Something else was radiating off the girl as well putting Penelope on edge, it was like watching a horror movie waiting for the jump scare and Penelope fucking hated jump scares.   
Penelope felt like she couldn’t move, but watching Josie twirl her fingers and the door closes with a bang makes her jump. Josie moves the cat off her lap and starts slowly walking to Penelope, she notices more changes in the taller girl like how her hair wasn’t brunette but instead a deep black and her dark red lipstick. 

“Did you really miss me that badly that you turned emo,” Penelope finally gets the courage to speak, “and don’t you dare tell me you started writing poetry,” 

Josie laughs at her weak attempt of keeping the high ground walking closer to the girl until Penelope feels the door behind her, “is the Penelope Park nervous,”

Maybe she was but only to the sole fact, she somehow showed up in her room and if Josie could read Penelope’s mind Josie makes a quip again, “it’s not like you just tried to set me on fire or anything,” and the taller girl smirks. 

“You haven’t even said hi to me since you’ve been back,” Watching Josie speak was strange, it was like every time she spoke her mood completely flipped because she was back to pouting, “I’ve been trying to get your attention the entire time, has Belgium turned you soft?” 

Josie was so close to Penelope could feel her breath on the side of her face when she moved closer to her ear, “it would be disappointing if that was true, you know that I liked it when you went low.” 

Penelope was always the one to initiate a game with Josie and the taller girl knew that, Josie wanted the fun to continue but something was too off that it made Penelope feel like she was suffocating, and she couldn’t deny that she slightly choked on air when she felt a finger moving down her neck. 

“I think you should leave Josie,” was the only thing Penelope could choke out before watching Josie’s face go through multiple emotions. Surprise, anger, sadness then leaving on a snarky   
smile like she didn’t know what face to show; it made Penelope feel sick. 

Could this be another slug situation or something worse, but Josie vanishes in an instant before anything else could be said, Penelope guesses she would have to bring this up with Lizzie unless she’s the one that started this thing in Josie. Maybe it would be better to talk to Hope about the situation, they both basically saved Josie from being buried by her dead mother after all so there must be some mutual respect in that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twitter: @BrooklynSolas


	3. First day of Hell.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope forces herself to go on the first day of school and play it casually, but it is Penelope and that rarely works out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't bad, I'm kinda lacking all of the magic lore so I'm sorry if some of it is wrong so please let me know.

The beginning of school was nothing special besides the whispers that obviously came from some of the students, a few girls from her group before she left sat with Penelope in class asking about how Belgium was and if there were any cute boys. She openly flirting with one of the girls whilst doing so, she was Penelope Park you would have to be an idiot to not feel flattered by any attention the raven-haired girl gave you. 

She doesn’t see either twin throughout each class until she gets to P.E class which was the last subject of the day, where she sees Lizzie and MG sneak behind the bleachers and well, Penelope did not want to deal with magical dodgeball as she recently got her nails done. Penelope follows behind the two teenagers with a cloaking spell, she waits till they start making out until she reveals herself and coughs making both of them jump. 

“Oh no, don’t stop it looked like both of you were happily enjoying it,” Penelope winks at Lizzie, 

“It’s been a literal year and you still can’t get over yourself?” Lizzie jeers, 

Penelope shrugs and smiles, “If you were someone like me, you’d understand how brilliant I am,” 

MG breaks into the conversation so it doesn’t go any further, “Peez, can I please have my cat back,” 

“I think Catraband it very content in my living quarters, he and I have been watching The Kardashians and doing our nails,” Penelope claims smugly, “but I do have a question for both of you, does this school have a slug infestation again?” 

Both MG and Lizzie give each other weird looks before Lizzie decides to speak, “No we don’t unless something has crawled out of the prison world, but I think that would’ve been you if anything,” 

“Please do tell,” Penelope decides to sit on one of the stools and cross her legs looking very interested, 

She hasn’t heard about a prison world before, so it did very much intrigue her, “it’s none of your business, Penelope,” 

Penelope knew that would’ve been said but you can’t blame a girl for trying, “Everything is my business, so I’ll just find out myself,” and with a snap of her fingers Penelope uses her cloaking spell once again to exit the P.E room to go find Hope. Not without hearing her favourite sentence, ‘begone Satan’ and MG scolding her. 

Walking around the school cloaked was very nostalgic for Penelope, but her magic wears out after a few minutes, so she’s left open to teachers seeing her sneaking around. Penelope touches her bottom lip as if she were thinking before deciding that Hope Mikaelson was in a nearby restroom, it’s her witchy intuition she would like to say, and Penelope was spot on with her hunch. 

Hope was fixing her make-up in the restroom mirror, a black eye was very apparent, but she didn’t want to mention it. Hope turns around just on cue to linger her eyes at you,  
“My favourite tribrid, Hope Mikaelson in the flesh,” Penelope smiles, “How have you been? We haven’t spoken in ages,” she exaggerates ages, “heard you experienced the prison world, you should tell me about it,” 

That was Penelope Park always straight to the point knowing what she wants but Hope doesn’t say anything, and she realises she was basically telling you to shut up, because you feel hands on your shoulders and Josie laughing. 

“What the fu-” Penelope jumps, 

“Oh no, don’t stop I’m interested in this little story,” Josie says behind the shorter girl, 

Penelope can see Hope stiffen up and now she knows something is extremely wrong, other than Penelope Hope is very soft with Josie, but she could feel the anxiousness from the tribrid. Something is so, so wrong and Penelope feels like only two people know why and both were in this room. Why does this always have to happen to me, Penelope scolds herself in her head.

“Why are both of you so tense, I don’t bite,” 

Penelope takes this opportunity to wiggle out of Josie’s grip and stand closer to Hope, who’s jaw was locked and not letting her eyes move away from Josie. The taller girl was wearing all black and very lacey, Penelope definitely couldn’t help but perv just a little only to make eye-contact with her winking making Penelope regret it in an instant.

“Where’s Josie?” Hope finally speaks her voice rough and stern, 

“You keep asking that but yet I’m right here,” Penelope watches Josie’s eyes go black, 

Fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck, Penelope finally realises Josie has been taken over by dark magic but why is she being allowed to stroll all over the place. She’s only been here for literally two weeks and now she’s being shoved into this shit storm, and Penelope starts to panic not like she would show it but mentally she’s had four mental breakdowns going onto her sixth. Josie looks at Penelope, her face softening, 

“Penelope please trust me, Hope doesn’t know what’s going on she’s being delusional,” and for that sentence it genuinely felt like Josie was back making the raven-haired girl flinch, 

“Penelope don’t trust her, that isn’t Josie,” Hope claims, 

“I wouldn’t have guessed Wolfy, I’m just going to go over to her and make out with her right now whilst she is literally emitting dark magic,” Penelope couldn’t help but retort back,  
Once again Josie’s face goes through the same emotions as last time but fixing on anger, her hands beginning to emit a fire spell and Penelope can’t help but wonder why the hell that girl only uses fire spells but then Josie stops and looks over to Penelope again.

“You feel important to Josie, so I’ll be needing you,” Josie monotones, 

Penelope feels her head start to spin, as if she were underwater, she can hear Hope shoot a spell towards Josie, but it happened too fast and nothing was making any sense. She could feel her body start weakening, what the fuck did Josie do to her? Would this be the way Penelope Park makes her grand exit, two weeks hiding in her room and now feels like she’s at the brink of death. Penelope didn’t even see or feel the spell directed at her not giving her time to deflect anything, so the fight was justifiably unfair.  
Penelope feels herself fall to the ground and the heaviness on her chest, but her vision was blacking out, and her consciousness was giving out aswell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be uploading more tomorrow!! I live in Australia so my time difference will probably be different to yours so please do be patient :)


	4. Pull yourself together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for it being so short, I'm not very used to the format of ao3 yet so I didn't expect this scene to be so short.

Penelope opens her eyes, her breathing fast and she knew she was shaking, where was she. She sits up and looks around, realising that she’s in her room and that she was in bed, she see’s light underneath the bathroom and the shower on. Everything felt so ominous and in slow motion, was that all a dream but which part was the dream. All of that felt so real and she still felt like her head was spinning, and so Penelope starts stealthily trying to find her phone to send a text to one of her friends in Belgium about what just happened, but she just can’t find her phone. Panic doesn’t set in until she hears the shower turn off and quite humming that sounds familiar which got louder until the door opens and Penelope can’t help but arm herself with a pillow like a powerless child. 

“uh, Pen you okay?” 

Hope Mikaelson was standing in front of Penelope dressed in only a towel with a mildly amused smile on her face, did Hope somehow protect Penelope and bring her back to her room but why would she have the audacity to use her personal bathroom. 

“What happened to Josie?” Penelope really wanted to give the taller girl a piece of her mind even if she was still taken over by dark magic, no one dares to try to hex a Park.  
Penelope doesn’t give Hope time to react because now she’s pissed, “and who gave you permission to wolf up all in my bedroom,” 

Hope sits at the end of bed facing Penelope, “This is very flattering after you had confessed your love for me a few hours ago, did the monster really hit you that hard?” Hope was giving Penelope the most endearing look that even Josie’s was unmatched. 

“I think you’re the one that got hit, because I would never confess my love to a fleabag,” 

“I guess we’re going to the nurses office in the morning, and Josie is fine although neither of you have spoken since she got with Landon,” 

Penelope can’t help but feel her eye twitch with annoyance, Josie Saltzman with Landon Kirby, she really downgraded if it were true but her and Hope seemed more like a joke. This had to be just a massive joke on Penelope but part of it felt real, something in her head was telling her what she was experiencing was real. 

“Where’s my phone?” Now Penelope was intrigued to see what her social media was showing, 

Hope smiles at the question, “Monster stepped on it and you went feral, really outshined my wolf side as well,” she picks something up from the floor and lightly throws it at Penelope, “You can use mine though, your fingerprint is saved so don’t stress about the passcode,” 

Penelope opens Hope’s phone seeing that her background photo is both girls looking very cuddly, Hope’s arms around Penelope’s waist and the raven-haired girls head tilted slightly back hidden in Hope’s hair. 

Hope sees the grossed-out face on Penelope, “Don’t make a face at that photo it’s my favourite,” 

The raven-haired girl just rolls her eyes before opening Instagram, trying to stay focused whilst she looked through both her, Hopes and Josie's account whilst Hope openly gets changed in the corner of your eye. The audacity that tribrid has, Penelope thinks. 

The only thing that was the same was that both MG and Lizzie were dating, and Landon still grossed her out, but seeing pig faces tongue down Josie’s throat made Penelope’s stomach churn. She was only in Belgium for like a year, she expected that Hope of all people would have a better chance to get ins with Josie than Landon two-faced Kirby.  
She then goes through Hope’s account, which was literally just pictures of Penelope and her in disgusting positions that Penelope would never do. It was probably Lizzie who set this entire joke up so she’s ready to give that blonde a piece of her mind as well, but then Penelope looks at the date and time which makes Penelope even more confused. Penelope was still meant to be in Belgium right now and school just went on Christmas break, why was she here. Penelope starts to feel sick, but she doesn’t know if she should say anything but instead, she goes onto google to justify the date on Hope’s phone. The twenty-eighth of December, o god she feels like she’s going to be sick. 

_Calm the fuck down Penelope, this can’t be real, and you just need to find a way out._

_Go along with it until you figure it all out, this might not be safe._

Were the only clear thoughts in Penelope’s brain, no matter how gross Hope Mikaelson was.  
After a few more minutes of scrolling, Penelope feels a dip in weight on the bed next to her, and the warmth that is Hope, it feels familiar and normal, but Penelope has to remind herself that this couldn’t be real. 

“Are you done yet, princess?” Hope yawns but Penelope can’t hide the scowl on her face with the nickname, 

_Who the fuck is she calling princess?_

Penelope just nods and passes the girl her phone, “Are you going to leave yet?” you ask, “because this is my room,” 

You watch the older girl pout playfully, “do you want me to leave?” 

_Obviously, I want you to leave I did ask you to very nicely._ is what Penelope wanted to say but her mind was working against her in this place, she kept catching herself looking at the other girls lips. Her eyes lowering to look at her body which was hidden by a thin white t-shirt that she knew was hers. 

It was obvious to the tribrid as when Penelope looked back up to look at her once more, the girl winked and moved closer towards you. Penelope felt like she couldn’t speak but just watch what happening, 

“You haven’t answered my question yet, Princess,” there’s that stupid nickname but this time something in you felt warm to the name as if she was working against herself, “do you want me to leave?” 

Penelope doesn’t even get to think for herself before her body is moving by herself into Hope’s and all she knows is that Penelope Park initiated a kiss with Hope fleabag Mikaelson, but she can’t get herself to stop and Hope isn’t stopping either. She feels Hope’s fingers slowly move from her thighs to underneath her shirt, scratching her back softly making Penelope lowly hum. 

_What the fuck am I doing? I’m not meant to like this; I need to stop._

But now Hope’s lips are on her neck slowly biting then kissing a soft spot right below her jaw and now Penelope genuinely can’t think and now her hands are up Hope’s shirt undoing her bra and now Hope was definitely giving her hickies on her collarbones. 

“I liked it when you used to go low,” Hope whispers in your ear, 

With that Penelope snaps out of whatever she was doing, her thinking a lot more hers, Hope was looking at her with that endearing look again but it’s all so fucking wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again Sorry for it being so short and I'll try to make future chapters longer!! 
> 
> I'll be skipping an upload on Christmas until night and or the day after, many apologies :)
> 
> This is the first sequence so this is where everything gets interesting :))
> 
> Please comment suggestions, criticism or really anything!!


	5. Hope Fleabag Mikaelson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope wakes up.

Penelope once again opens her eyes in her bedroom, but Hope wasn’t there and it was bright outside, her heart was still beating uncontrollably. It was just a dream; Penelope tries to calm down her breathing focusing on the way the sun shined through her curtains. She did it for a few minutes before laying back down and looking at her ceiling for a while before deciding she should better wash her face due to sweat; she decided a very cold shower would be a better idea.

The cold water originally makes Penelope cringe, but she eases into it, her head resting on the tiled wall. She stays in the shower for god knows how long, before deciding she should probably get out and get ready for the day. Although the girl did not know the time, Penelope was starting to get hungry and she needed to find Hope, to again, ask about Josie.  
It was 10 AM when Penelope finishes doing her make-up and leaves her room, it was the second day of school and obviously, she’s late but could care less. She finds hope coincidentally in the cafeteria watching a bowl of cereal like it was going to foretell her future. The tribrids hair was a mess and it looked like she was in her pyjamas with grey sweatpants and a white tank top, overall she looked exhausted. Penelope stealthily as possible sneaks up behind Hope and looks over her shoulder jokingly,

“Has it told you that you’re never going to get with me, yet?” Penelope asks,

Hope jumps slightly before looking at the girl, “Nice to see you too, Park,” Hope can’t help but breathe out before going back to looking at the bowl.

Penelope knits her eyebrows together, realising literally how exhausted the girl is and decides to sit down next to her. Penelope isn’t that mean to take a bite at someone who looks like she’s having the worst hangover ever, she’s been there done that so yeah, Penelope can have empathy. Penelope catches herself nodding to her pep talk if no one will acknowledge what she is then she damn well, and she will goddamn appreciate it.

“What’s up with you?” Penelope asks,

“Alaric’s kind of lost it when he found out about the situation yesterday in the bathroom,” Hope picks up her spoon and starts swirling it around in the bowl, “I had to find a way to lure Josie into the cells and have to take care of you until you wake up,”

Penelope decides just to nod along because she could feel all of Hopes pent up frustration, “Alaric had the audacity to not know what Josie did to you, so I have literally been up all night trying to figure out what the hell she did,” Hope was now using her spoon to express how she was talking, “I even got so desperate to ask Josie what the hell she did to you, and I’m not going to lie Lizzie was more concerned for you than either Alaric or Josie or whatever the hell is possessing Josie,”

Penelope couldn’t help the twitch of a smile show, for one she’s never seen Hope so huffy let alone rant to her about anything besides for when Josie got buried alive but that was different.

“And now you’re basically comatose in bed not knowing when the hell you’re going to wake up or what the side effects will be, you could literally be in a never-ending dream for all we know and no one knows what the hell to do,”

The raven-hair girl blinks, yeah, Hope is definitely very sleep-deprived and she will soon be the one comatose. So, Penelope thinks of the best idea and pokes her face to show that she’s actually there, which stops Hope’s rambling completely,

“You’re awake?” Hope asks dumbly,

“O no I’m just sleepwalking,”

Hope can’t help but sigh in relief her body relaxing, “You’re usually not so quiet,”

“I’m just very flattered that you stayed up all night for little old me,” Penelope flutters her eyelashes innocently, 

Both girls hear the tapping of feet coming into the cafeteria, and next thing they hear is also a very sleep deprived Lizzie, “We’ve found a way to reverse the dark magic within Josie,” the girl sounded like she was on the brink of death, “also dad wanted to ask if Penelope has woken up yet,”

Showtime, Baby

Penelope tilts her body forward to wave a hand at Lizzie, who also just stands there dumbly obviously not expecting the smaller girl to be awake.  
“Don’t say anything, Satan,” Lizzie knew what Penelope was going to say, “Just get Hope to a bed she looks like she’s dying,”

“You don’t look like a prize either,” Hope whispers just enough that only Penelope could hear,

Which was true, Lizzie was wearing her school uniform, but Penelope was pretty sure her skirt was back to front, the girl jokingly salutes her instead of mentioning it, “aye aye captain,”  
Lizzie rolls her eyes before walking away probably going back to wherever she came from and Hope was back at staring at the now soggy bowl of cereal, “You really need to take a nap,”

“I’m a tribrid I don’t need naps,”

“Do I have to leash you fido?”

“Didn’t expect you to be into that,”

It catches Penelope off guard obviously, but she tilts her head in a challenge, “Wouldn’t you like to see,”

That’s enough for the girl to stand up with a cough and start walking to the dorm rooms, “I’m going to take a nap,”

Don’t start a fire if you can’t withstand the heat Penelope thinks to herself proudly,

Not realising she should probably follow to get out of class or would getting hexed by a certain Saltzman let her take a day off, whatever she’ll fight Alaric either way.  
Penelope forgets how fast the older girl could walk although Penelope was in heels and Hope was wearing a pair of slides so obviously, she had the advantage. Hope doesn’t close her door, so it was a very clear invitation for Penelope to pop in, she totally won’t time the girl's nap and then go off on her about Josie. Her earlier dream was scratching at the back of her mind, although Penelope is awake now and it should never be mentioned.

Hope was already sprawled on her bed face down on her pillow and looked like she was passed out, Penelope quietly shuts the door careful not to disturb the girl. The raven-haired girl looking around the girl's room, only ever being in here a few times. It was strange to her how homey Hope’s room was with pictures of her friends and presumably family. She as well had a medium-sized whiteboard attached to the back of her door with small sayings from her friends, immediately recognising Josie’s ‘I love you’. Bitterness is what stings Penelope’s chest due to not really keeping anything sentimental from Josie, she had drunk her sorrows away in her bedroom in Belgium and angrily burnt all the photos and letters. Penelope knew it was her fault for what she did but just the thought of having things from her but never being able to hold her again validated her reasoning way more than not burning them.

She hoped that maybe she could rekindle with the taller girl, but morally she knew she couldn’t. Hope even had a wall covered in plants which were cute, Penelope could never be able to handle the responsibility of taking care of herself properly let alone something living.

“You going to hover over me or are you going to lay down?” Hope asks her voice muffled,

“If you wanted to get me in bed with you, I would expect at least a please,”

Penelope sits down next to the laying girl, “I have not missed you whatsoever,”

“Don’t even, I’m like the best thing since sliced bread,”

Hope’s head was slightly tilted to look at Penelope’s, watching Hope roll her eyes at her comment and then she chuckles before closing her eyes and falling asleep. Penelope waits a few minutes before getting up and walking to her door planning to go talk to Alaric about what the hell is happening with Josie, no matter how angry the girl could get herself to be she will always have a soft spot for the taller girl especially in situations like these.

Penelope looks back at the sleeping girl before quietly closing the door and walking down hallways which felt like they went on forever, trying to remember where specifically Alaric’s office would be, she finds it eventually but can’t get herself to knock on the door hearing the shouting from Lizzie and someone else that she couldn’t hear properly.  
The raven-haired girl recalls Hope mentioning that Josie was in the cells beneath the school, deciding to find the girl that could still possibly be pumped up with dark magic than with what was happening inside Alaric’s office would be a smarter idea. The change in the air density was very obvious to Penelope or maybe she was just stressing herself out but the ability to breathe for Penelope was getting a lot more difficult. Finding Josie, leg crossed over the other reading a magazine was not something Penelope could’ve expected, and she was expecting a lot of things. It only registers in Penelope’s head that Josie was not in a cell but instead outside of one when Josie looks up and winks at her.

Penelope’s mind goes blank and the small amount of air in her lungs gets caught in her throat, but Josie doesn’t do anything besides look back down and flip the page looking far more interested in the magazine rather than Penelope; who didn’t know if she was meant to be relieved or slightly offended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> Sorry for the late update, didn't realise how busy the lead up to the new year would be for me. Hopefully, this is enough until I can get the next chapter planned, written out and edited in time.  
> Hopefully, everyone had a good Christmas and got presents that they've wanted :)
> 
> I've had to double-check this chapter a few times to get the POV correct due to my common style of writing is in the second person whilst this is in the third which is one of my weakest styles of writing, so many apologies If things are written in an odd way due to that. I'm trying to fix it. 
> 
> I'll get the next chapter out by either Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon. 
> 
> feel free to leave comments :)


	6. An encounter of sorts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope encounters Josie.

Penelope can still feel the presence of the dark magic but why is she not in a cell, did Josie’s puppy eyes let Hope’s guard down for the girl to grab her keys. Penelope feels her eyebrow twitch watching Josie innocently flick each page to the other, should she leave or send a message to Hope alerting her to what’s happening. Penelope tries to check her pockets until Josie looks up once again, her hand holding something, and it takes Penelope to squint to realise that she had Penelope’s phone.

“Looking for this?” her right eyebrow was raised,

Penelope quickly pats herself down in a panic even though she knew that it was her phone in Josie’s hands and the taller girl laughs at her panic closing the magazine. Josie stands up and puts down both the phone and magazine, the shorter girl taking a small step back whilst Josie was walking towards her.

“When I said that you should start sticking up for yourself,” Penelope finally finds some ground, “I definitely did not have dark magic in mind,” 

Josie grins eye to eye with the girl, “The world needs a selfless and a selfish to keep spinning,” Penelope can’t help but grimace to what Josie was quoting, “and I happen to be the latter,”

The girl tries to hold Penelope’s hand, but she flinches away knowing that they shouldn’t even be so close, she was just trying to get Penelope to put her guard down and it was working. Josie was looking at Penelope as if she were looking right through the shorter girl and it made her stomach twist knowing that she isn’t Josie, no matter how much she looked or spoke like her.

“Where is Josie?” Penelope sounds pathetic but before the taller girl could answer, she shoots a spell to Josie making her go flying back,

The girl lays on the floor for a few moments, Penelope regrets it soon after because she didn’t want to hurt her but deep down the magic that surrounded Josie was far more powerful than she has experienced in a while. Penelope knew she was far stronger than herself, she even felt stronger than Hope when she gets all Josie protective, would Alaric even be able to deal with this? Nonetheless, if he did, he is far more stupid than before she left due to him not being able to fix her already and even then, what the hell is even happening.

Josie stays standing against the wall, a twitch of a smile on her lips, “Still so unlovable aren’t you Pen?” she twirls a lock of her hair,

Something in Penelope sparks and she’s the one flying a fire spell towards Josie consistently for a few moments, the spell would not harm the girl if it hit but it would certainly restrict her movement, but when the flames disappear; Josie was still standing, unharmed. This version of Josie certainly knew where it hurts the most, but Penelope knew she shouldn’t be acting out of rage, although it was a much better emotion than what she actually was feeling. She watches Josie use the same movement as what she used in the restroom and quickly protects herself with a barrier spell, Penelope will not fall for the same trick twice. Penelope curses at herself knowing that only a siphoner could force her to fail, she as well curses at Alaric due to him filling the walls of the school with magic basically giving Josie a whole buffet of magic for her to use.  
Penelope looks back at the staircase weighing her options, she could run away from this and make it everyone else’s problem or stay down here and throw useless spells at Josie. Neither were ideal choices, but the first choice seemed a lot more preferable, she doesn’t feel her spell disappear when she’s slamming into the wall. Penelope could barely take in a breath when she collides with the wall, she falls onto her knees not able to get up. She’s already used up a lot of magic even for Penelope, she watches the taller girl walk to her and bends down to look her in the eyes,

“Go to hell,” Penelope breathes out,

Josie smiles using her index finger to tilt her head to look at her, “I’ll see you there,” she whispers before standing back up straight,

The same spell takes over her body, hitting the floor and her vision going blurry.

\----------

Again, she wakes up to the light bleeding into the room from the window gasping for air, gripping the bedsheets. She felt cold as if she were dunked into an ice-cold lake and left in the snow. Penelope wanted to scream, maybe she should’ve listened to her mother's threats so she wouldn’t be dealing with whatever this is. Was it a dream or did she get help, but she didn’t know, should she stay in bed until someone can come to clarify for her or figure it out herself without losing her damn mind in the process.

Penelope searches around her bed to find her phone to look at the time but comes out empty-handed slightly confirming a theory that she somehow got out of that, she instead opens her laptop, but it shows a black screen. The girl groans knowing she’s going to have to get up, but she was still in the outfit she wore before being hexed by Josie, which again supports her theory. She gets up to look at her appearance in her bathroom, but the mirror looked somehow distorted, nothing looked out of place, but something felt off to the girl as if what she was looking into was a façade of sorts. She keeps her eyes focused on the mirror trying to figure out what was wrong, she stands there just watching until she sees the movement of the bathroom door slightly open,

The girl turns quickly reciting a doorway sealing spell to stop the intruder, “Vis Sera Potus!”

The door slams shut, and someone falls onto the floor, “nice to see you too Pen,” Hope groans from behind the door,

Penelope releases her spell and peaks out of the door to see Hope sitting on the floor rubbing her head, “have you heard of knocking or do I have to slam the door in your face again?”

Hope looks up at Penelope who was still leering from behind the door and smiles, “you going to come out?”

Penelope closes the door once again grinning from behind the door, “been there done that,”

Hope groans dramatically and another thump, Penelope peeks her head out again to see the girl dramatically sprawled on the floor, she raises an eyebrow at the view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh sorry for not updating for a while, my mental health has spiralled horribly and had lost interest in this story for a while but after looking back at it and being shocked at all the positive feedback it has gotten, I have managed to write up another chapter or so for y'all :D  
> Also sorry for the short chapter I'll try to make the next one a lot longer :)


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